Because of the recent trend toward rapid processing and the use of sensitizing dyes in large amounts, it is important to prevent silver halide photographic materials from being contaminated with sensitizing dyes remaining therein after processing (i.e., suffering from so-called residual color).
Hitherto, the sensitizing dyes disclosed in JP-B-51-1126 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), JP-B-51-4105, British Patent 1,333,013 and so on have been proposed because they cause less residual color. However, such dyes cannot achieve a satisfactory result when both slight residual color and high sensitivity are required.